A school of architectural thinking
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SCI-ARC GALLERY EXHIBITION
Odile Decq Benoît Cornette Architectes-Urbanistes
ANISOTROPY | ANISOTROPIE
October 14 – December 4, 2011
Friday, October 14, 7-9pm: Exhibition discussion with Odile Decq and SCI-Arc Director Eric Owen Moss, followed by an opening reception in the SCI-Arc Gallery
Los Angeles, CA (September 7, 2011)—The Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) is pleased to announce the exhibition Anisotropy/Anisotropie by Paris-based architecture firm Odile Decq Benoît Cornette, on view in the SCI-Arc Gallery from October 14 through December 4, 2011. Constructed of mirror-clad walls that create a series of unique geometric spaces, the installation invites visitors to make their way through these spaces while experiencing a constant play of reflection and illusions. Decq’s exhibition aims to induce a sensory experience, both vivid and discomforting, one that pulls the human mind in various directions simultaneously. The primary geometry of each space is the triangle, but by inclining the walls at different angles, the architect forces visitors to perceive the space as something different. Furthermore, due to the reflective quality of the walls, as visitors move through the space, they experience each of its sections as being infinite. Each is dis-functional—as to alter and obscure the perception we construct of the space—and each places the mind in a constant state of disorientation: first in time, then in place, and finally in person.
The sense of space is the basis of all social experience and of perceptual experience in general. Normally, the perception of space is forged through the analysis of sensory information gathered from our surroundings—our position, orientation, proximity, and other such relationships between us and the objects and people surrounding us. Anisotropy/Anisotropie questions the way we move through space and challenges the mental perception we elaborate by means of altering our magnetic anisotropic properties.
About Odile Decq
Odile Decq is Principal of Odile Decq Benoît Cornette, Architectes-Urbanistes, in Paris, France. Since 2007, she has been serving as Executive Director of the École Spéciale d’Architecture in Paris. Decq set up her practice after graduating from La Villette in 1978, while studying political science in Paris and pursuing a post-graduate program in Urban Planning. Her first commission, Banque Populaire de l'Ouest in Rennes, France, completed in 1990, received international acclaim and numerous prizes. Publications documenting the building underlined the emergence of a new style born from punk rebellion, while also questioning the project, the use, the matter, the body, the technique, the taste, and the architecture of Odile Decq Benoît Cornette. In 1996, her firm was awarded a Golden Lion in Venice. Working independently since 1998, Decq has been true to her original style, while diversifying and radicalizing her research. Recently, she completed the new wing of the Museum for Contemporary Art in Rome (MACRO) in 2010, and the restaurant at Opera Garnier in Paris, in 2011.
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Public Programs
SCI-Arc Gallery exhibitions and public programming are funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Parking and admission are free. No reservations are required. Lectures, talks, and discussions are broadcast live online at www.sciarc.edu/live.
SCI-Arc Public Programs are subject to change beyond our control. For the most current information, please visit www.sciarc.edu or call 213-613-2200.
Parking and Hours
The entrance to SCI-Arc's parking lot is at 350 Merrick Street, Los Angeles, between Traction Avenue and 4th Street in Los Angeles. The SCI-Arc Gallery is open daily from 10am–6pm; the Library Gallery is open Sunday through Friday, noon-6pm.
About SCI-Arc
The Southern California Institute of Architecture is dedicated to educating architects who will imagine and shape the future. It is an independent, accredited degree-granting institution offering undergraduate and graduate programs in architecture. Located in a quarter-mile-long former freight depot in the Arts District in Downtown Los Angeles, the school is distinguished by its vibrant studio culture and emphasis on process. SCI-Arc’s approximately 500 students and 80 faculty members—most of whom are practicing architects—work together to re-examine assumptions, create, explore and test the limits of architecture. Recently, SCI-Arc was ranked second in design and computer applications in the 2011 America’s Best Architecture Schools survey from DesignIntelligence. SCI-Arc is located at 960 E. 3rd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90013. For more information, please visit www.sciarc.edu.
